


The Wrong Doctor

by pigeonking



Series: The Missing Doctor Adventures - Season One [12]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-09 15:34:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10415313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pigeonking/pseuds/pigeonking
Summary: This is it... the season one finale of The Missing Doctor Adventures and in true Doctor Who tradition it is gonna be in two parts...





	1. Part One

The space bar was teeming with a menagerie of different species from all across the galaxy when Captain Jack Harkness walked in. Several spaghetti-mouthed Ood were waiting on the tables, taking orders for drinks and sometimes food. A couple of Rills wearing portable breathing apparatus were sat in one corner playing a trilogic puzzle game; an arm wrestling match between a burly looking Draconian and a Martian Ice Warrior was the centre of much attention and gambling on one of the central tables and a Thoros Betan Mentor and his attendants were in the middle of trying to close a dodgy deal with a couple of Ogrons. However, it was the relatively human looking man sat at the bar, wearing the red jacketed uniform of a 19th Century British Army officer that caught Jack’s eye.

“Captain John Hart, as I live and breathe, I did not expect to find you here, you son of a bitch!” Jack greeted his old friend as he plonked himself in the stool next to him.

“Is that any way to greet an old friend?” John smirked sardonically. “Can I buy you a drink?”

“Don’t mind if I do.” Jack accepted.

John ordered what he remembered to be Jack’s favourite drink and was secretly pleased when Jack didn’t correct him.

“What brings you to this part of the galaxy?” John asked as the drink was poured and brought over.

“Funny.” Jack smiled whimsically as he sipped his drink. “I was just about to ask you the same question.”

“What you said about not expecting to find me here?” John began.

“Yes?”

“Well, I’m sorta the opposite. I was expecting – correction, hoping to find you here. Seems like my hunch played out.” John told him.

“You still using that thingamabob that you have that enables you to track me whenever I am in the time-stream?” Jack asked, already knowing the answer.

“Hey, you gave it to me remember!” John replied defensively.

“It wasn’t an accusation!” Jack held up his hands in a placating gesture.

“Here’s the thing.” John paused to down his drink and then ordered another before continuing. “Your time energy signature has got a little more oomph than usual.”

“So?” Jack said cagily.

“You’re not using your vortex manipulator.” John replied. It was a statement rather than a question. “You’ve had an upgrade. What is it?”

Jack hesitated, unsure about whether he should answer, but then he shrugged a ‘what-the-hell’.

“I’m travelling with someone at the moment who has their own time/space travel machine.”

“Should I be jealous?” John wondered with a suggestive leer.

Jack laughed humourlessly and drained his glass before answering.

“I wish!” he ordered another drink. “There are two of them, a man and a girl. Sometimes I feel like a bit of a third wheel tagging along on a never ending date, except this date never ends with any of the fun hot and sweaty stuff.”

“Ouch!” John winced in sympathy.

“That’s why I came here.” Jack continued. “The Doctor is showing Rose around the market deck, but once you’ve seen one space market you’ve seen ‘em all, so I told them I’d meet them back at the TARDIS later.”

Jack didn’t see John’s satisfied smile at the mention of the Doctor and the TARDIS.

Before anymore could be said they were interrupted by raised voices coming from the table where the Mentor was conning, sorry, trading with the Ogrons.

Jack and John turned to see what was going on.

It seemed that these Ogrons were not going to be as easy a con as the Mentor had anticipated.

One of them was leaning over the table and trying to grab the slimy green slug man by the scruff of his scaly neck. The Mentor’s two bodyguards wrestled with the hairy paw that was attempting to manhandle their master, whilst he screamed and wriggled like a worm on a hook. The other Ogron stepped out from behind the table and laid out one of the bodyguards with a haymaker punch that knocked him cold. This enabled the other Ogron to secure a satisfying grip around the Mentor’s neck and he hoisted the little green man into the air and slung him across the room as if he were slinging a rubbish bag onto a tip.

The shrieking Mentor went soaring into the midst of the arm wrestling match between the Draconian and the Ice Warrior. Both participants were unharmed, but terribly put out by the interruption of their match.

The Ice Warrior snatched up the dazed form of the Mentor in one of his clamp-like claws and tossed him back at the Ogrons.

This was the excuse needed for the whole bar to erupt into a free for all brawl.

Jack and John looked at each other and grinned.

“When in Rome…” John said.

They got up from their stools and waded in.

Jack found himself facing one of the Ogrons. He looked up at the muscular ape-like creature.

“My, you’re a big one, aren’t you!” he leered… and then he kneed him in the groin.

The Ogron doubled over in agony and Jack kicked him to the floor to let him writhe in peace.

John had snagged one of the Ood waiters by the tentacles and head butted him to the floor. The poor Ood had been trying to escape behind the bar, but John hadn’t cared much about that. With a cheerfully manic grin he lurched off to the next opponent. He found the Mentor that had been the catalyst for this brawl lying unconscious by one of the tables. John picked him up by the tail and held him up at nose level.

“That’ll teach you to try and double deal an Ogron, eh?” he smirked and then he took the Mentor’s tail in both hands and proceeded to use him as a club to beat down on the alien in front of him.

Once he was finished he turned, still holding the Mentor by the tail, looking for his next target. The other Ogron was striding towards him.

“Oh, Okchov, you’d have loved this!” John remarked to himself and then, “Here catch!”

He tossed the battered Mentor to the Ogron who raised his hands reflexively and caught the slimy green missile. While the Ogron stood there holding the Mentor with a bemused expression across his simian features, John picked up a nearby chair and hit him over the head with it. Said chair was made out of metal and the Ogron fell to the floor in an unconscious heap with the mauled Mentor lain across him.

Someone bumped into John from behind and the ex-Time Agent turned with his fists raised to meet this new opponent.

It was Jack.

The two of them stared at each other as the fight went on around them.

“Shall we get out of here?” John suggested.

Jack raised a suggestive eyebrow. “I thought you’d never ask!”  

 

Jack and John collapsed in a tangled naked, sweaty heap on the bed, the sheets entwined around them like a silken boa constrictor. They were both panting heavily from their exertions and Jack bit down gently on John’s shoulder as he struggled to catch his breath.

“Damn!” Jack breathed. “Where did you learn to do that?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know!” John smirked smugly from underneath him, his right hand still wandering absently at parts down below.

“There’s nothing like a good bar room brawl to get the old juices flowing, huh?” Jack remarked as he shifted onto one elbow.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t have gotten one of those Ogrons to tag along.” John lamented wistfully.

“Last time you tangled with an Ogron like that you couldn’t sit down for two whole weeks!” Jack reminded him.

“Sitting down is so overrated!” John replied with a smile.

“Nice as this has been catching up with you and all; you still haven’t told me why you were hoping I’d turn up in that bar today?” Jack changed the subject deftly.

“You mean that this isn’t a good enough reason?” John replied with a raised eyebrow and an expression of mock indignation. He let out a small yelp of pain as he suddenly felt Jack’s fingers tighten around a very sensitive area.

“Tell me what’s going on, John or I’ll squeeze you in ways that you won’t find so enjoyable!” Jack persisted.

“Alright, alright!” John yielded. “God! When did you turn into such a party pooper?”

“The truth, John!” Jack warned him.

“It’s that guy you’re travelling with.” John said.

“The Doctor?” Jack replied. “What about him?”

“I’ve been hired by some people that are very interested in talking to him.” John continued.

“Talking, huh?” Jack squeezed a little harder and John winced. “What do they want to talk to him about?”

“I don’t know.” John yelped again as the vice like grip tightened further. “I swear on your mother’s life I really don’t!” he insisted. “I think they want to hire him for something. Something that only he would be able to help them with.”

“The Doctor doesn’t work for money.” Jack told him.

“Well then maybe he’d be willing to help them out of the goodness of his heart then?” John suggested hopefully.

The ex-Time Agent breathed a sigh of relief as he felt Jack’s grip slacken.

“He might, depending on what it is that they want him to do?” Jack conceded.

“So you’ll introduce me to him?” John hoped.

Jack leaned over the side of the bed and picked up his watch from the bundle of discarded clothes on the floor. He looked at it.

“I’m supposed to be meeting them back at the TARDIS in an hour.” He said. When I go I guess you could come with me.”

“That’s great!” John beamed gratefully. “Honest, Jack, this means worlds to me!”

Jack smiled back at him with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

“We’ve got enough time for you to show me just how grateful you are!” he suggested.

“In a minute.” John promised as he eased himself gently from under Jack and rose from the bed. “I just wanna freshen myself up in the bathroom first.”

Jack watched John’s naked butt as he padded over to the bathroom.

“You so definitely are the woman in this relationship!” Jack teased.

John looked over his shoulder and shot Jack a moody pout.

“You bitch!” he snarked good naturedly before disappearing into the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

 

Fifty five minutes later Jack and John were fully clothed again and making their way to the cargo hold on one of the space port’s lower decks where the TARDIS had materialised. As they approached John nodded to himself as he recognised the blue box that his employer had told him to look out for. A man with short dark hair wearing a leather jacket and black jeans was leaning against the box with a young pretty looking girl with long blonde hair, in jeans and a T-shirt. John’s employer had given a description of the Doctor and this was certainly close enough to the man he’d described. He’d also been told that the Doctor would be travelling with a pretty young blonde girl. All of the columns were certainly being checked.

“Doctor, Rose!” Jack greeted his two friends amiably. “Have you been waiting long?”

“Just five minutes.” The Doctor answered.

“Trust me, Jack! Five minutes is an unbearable eternity for the Doctor!” Rose teased. “Two minutes in and I swear he was starting to twitch!”

“Who’s your handsome friend?” the Doctor asked, running an appraising glance over John.

“Doctor, this is Captain John Hart, an old friend and colleague of mine from my days working with the Time Agency. I bumped into him in that bar I was telling you about.” Jack introduced them. “John, these are my friends, the Doctor and Rose Tyler.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both, any friends of Jack’s are friends of mine too, I hope!” John shook hands with the Doctor and Rose warmly.

“John wanted to meet with you, Doctor.” Jack explained. “He tells me that someone has hired him to find you because they want to hire you to help them with something that only you can help with.”

“I don’t work for money, you should know that, Jack!” the Doctor reminded him.

“I know, I told John that, but he said he’d ask you anyway. Just in case you’d be willing to help for free.” Jack continued.

The Doctor nodded. “Alright. I’ll meet with your employer, John.” He agreed.

“Oh there was never any question of that.” John assured him.

“I beg your pardon?” the Doctor asked, his face darkening.

“You were always going to come with me, Doctor. I just needed to find you.” John replied, ignoring the daggers that Jack was currently glaring into him.

“Oh yeah?” the Doctor retorted. “And what do you plan on doing if I refuse to go with you?”

“I’m not going to do anything.” John assured him and he nodded at something or someone who had just materialised out of thin air behind Rose’s shoulder. “He is!”

The Doctor and Rose turned to look at the newcomer that had just uncloaked behind them.

It was a helmetless Sontaran wearing dark blue armour from chin (he had no neck) to toe, apart from his left arm which had morphed into a great big arm cannon which was currently pointed at the Doctor and Rose.

“You slimy double crossing son of a bitch!” Jack snarled and he lunged at John.

John stepped back out of reach; a blaster was suddenly in his hand and aimed at Jack.

“Don’t make me do it, Jack.” John warned. “You’re not part of this. It’s just the Doctor and the girl that he wants.”

“That who wants?” Jack growled angrily. “Who’re you working for, John?”

“That’s for me to know and for you to never find out!” John replied and he moved over to stand next to the Sontaran.

“Wherever he takes you, Doctor, I’ll find you. I promise!” Jack assured his friends grimly.

“I wouldn’t worry too much, Jack. For me and Rose this is just another day at the office.” The Doctor grinned. “Don’t get too drunk while we’re gone. We’ll be back before you know it.”

“Oh I doubt that!” John remarked drily. During all this banter he had snapped bracelets onto the Doctor and Rose’s wrists. Once that was done John twisted a dial on the bracelet on his own wrist.

A blue light suddenly enveloped the four figures.

“See you around, Jack!” John said with a smile and a wink and then the four of them disappeared.

 

** To Be Continued… **


	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who has kidnapped the Doctor and Rose and why? And how do the Missing Doctor and Clover figure into all of this? Read on and find out...

The Doctor and Clover were playing Ping-Pong in the TARDIS control room. Stripped down to rolled up shirt sleeves and a pair of shorts, the Doctor deftly wielded a dark green wooden paddle, bouncing a small white plastic ball across the central console (which was acting as their net) towards Clover, who had nano-morphed herself into a fetching ensemble of white sports T-shirt and navy blue cycling shorts. The fact that the TARDIS was currently in flight, its rotor rising and falling rhythmically, only served to heighten the challenge and fun of the pair’s impromptu game.

They had just worked themselves into a rather impressive volley when suddenly the TARDIS lurched sideways at an alarming angle causing Clover to miss the ball and stumble into the console, banging her knee hard as she did so. The Doctor also staggered back with the sudden jolt, but managed to keep his footing and was immediately bending over the console to try and discover why the TARDIS had reacted so violently.

“Are you alright, Clover?” he asked with concern as he poured his gaze over the instruments in front of him.

“I’ll live!” Clover assured him as she rubbed her bruised knee gingerly. “Why did the TARDIS do that?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out, my dear! Here hold this!” he handed her his Ping-Pong paddle. “Hmmm, it seems that we’ve been drawn deliberately off course in the middle of the vortex by some unknown power and we’re being taken somewhere and somewhen pretty specific!”

“Any idea where and when?” Clover asked.

“Hold on tight, darling!” he offered her one of his charming grins and clutched the side of the console. “We’re about to find out!”

Clover just had time to copy his example and hold on tight to the console before the familiar howling and grinding filled the air and the rotor in the centre of the console slowly came to a halt.

As soon as the landing was completed the Doctor activated the scanner so that they could see where they had arrived.

“Well that’s interesting!” the Doctor muttered as he and Clover took in the image that filled the screen.

On the scanner they could see another police box just like the TARDIS!

 

Captain Jack Harkness had just watched his friends, the Doctor and Rose Tyler disappear before his very eyes as they were abducted by another old friend from his days working for the Time Agency, Captain John Hart.

He had barely had the chance to register what had happened and to start formulating a plan of action when he heard the familiar sound of the TARDIS dematerialisation fill the air. Jack looked at the TARDIS in front of him, afraid that the time machine was about to leave on its own without him. Could it even do that?

However, the TARDIS was not dematerialising and it was then that he realised that the noise was originating from behind him. Jack turned around and saw another identical police box slowly fading into existence.

“What on Earth…?” he uttered in disbelief. Just what was going on here?

Once the materialisation was complete Jack waited to see who would emerge.

A few moments later the door opened and two unfamiliar people stepped out.

One was a tall man with short dark hair wearing a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, along with a pair of white tennis shorts. The other was a rather attractive young woman with blonde shoulder length hair that had been tied back into a ponytail. She was wearing a white T-shirt and navy blue cycling shorts. The woman was hobbling slightly on one leg and there was a purple bruise the size of a goose egg on her right knee.

“And who might you be?” the man asked. He had a Scottish Earth accent.

“I was about to ask you the same question!” Jack replied evasively.

“Is that blue box what I think it is?” the woman wondered.

“That all depends on what you do think it is!” Jack answered. He still wasn’t sure if these people could be trusted or not.

“You’re being very evasive, young man!” the male stranger grumbled. “How about we start off by introducing ourselves, eh?”

“That would be nice, yeah!” Jack agreed.

“I’m the Doctor and this is my friend, Clover Daniels.” The Doctor announced.

“The Doctor?” Jack remarked. “I suppose that makes sense. I’ve heard that Time Lords are able to regenerate their physical appearance and the fact that you don’t know who I am must mean that you’re a past incarnation of the Doctor!”

“So you know me?” the Doctor replied.

“I do know you and you will know me, eventually!” Jack assured him. “I’m not quite sure how much I should tell you what with timelines and all that, but maybe this was always meant to happen? Could be why the Doctor wasn’t too worried when John took him away… he knew you were coming!”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not entirely sure that I quite follow what you’re getting at!” Clover frowned.

“If my Doctor remembers what happened when he was your Doctor then that’s why he wasn’t worried when he was just abducted, because he remembers being rescued by himself when he was you… do you follow me now?” Jack wondered.

“I think I need a lie down!” Clover complained.

“Wait, so you’re saying that I… that is, your Doctor, was just abducted?” the Doctor was trying to keep up. “Abducted by who and why?”

“Abducted by an old friend of mine called Captain John Hart.” Jack explained. “I don’t know why though. I get the impression that John was hired by someone else to kidnap you for some reason.”

The Doctor walked over to the other TARDIS and ran his hand down it.

“And all of this happened just outside your Doctor’s TARDIS?” he mused. “Maybe that’s what drew us off course, Clover. The Doctor’s TARDIS has brought us here to get her Doctor back! But why us specifically, I wonder?”

“I guess there’s only one way to find out!” Clover replied.

“Indeed! Looks like we’re going to have to find me!” the Doctor turned to Jack. “Do you think that you could find it in yourself to share your name now, since we’re going to be working together?”

“I’m Captain Jack Harkness.” Jack told him.

The Doctor shook him by the hand.

“Nice to meet you, Jack!” he said. “Now tell me exactly how it happened!”

 

When the other Doctor and Rose Tyler materialised again they found themselves within the shiny walled corridor of what could only be a spaceship, or possibly another space station.

The Doctor was disappointed to see that they were still flanked by Jack’s friend and the Sontaran.

“Move!” the Sontaran barked, still covering them with his arm cannon.

“Alright! Alright!” Rose snarked. She looked at the Doctor and flashed him a cheeky grin, raising her hands above her head with almost comic exaggeration.

Captain John couldn’t help but snigger at Rose’s little display.

“Please let me kill her now, Captain Hart!” the Sontaran begged.

“No, Okchov! Our employer will want to speak with them first.” John shook his head. “The contract did specify alive, remember?”

“It didn’t say they had to be in one piece though!” Okchov smirked wickedly.

“Okchov!” John warned.

The Sontaran pouted sulkily. “You never let me have any fun!”

They marched the rest of the way in silence until they came to the end of the corridor. An electronic door whooshed open for them and they entered what could only be the control room, which at least confirmed that they were on a spaceship.

Several men in red and grey uniforms milled about the room performing their various duties. In the centre of the room there sat another man whom the Doctor assumed must be the commander and the employer of John and Okchov. This man rose from his command chair as the Doctor and Rose were ushered into the room.

“Who are these people?” the commander asked as he ran appraising eyes over the two prisoners.

John and Okchov looked at each other.

“This is the Doctor.” John answered. “The man you hired us to fetch for you. Remember?”

The commander looked at the Doctor.

“This isn’t the man I remember.” The commander said. “Though the Doctor is a Time Lord so I guess it’s entirely possible that he has regenerated since I last saw him.”

“Clever man!” the Doctor remarked patronisingly. “Who are you?”

The commander squared up to the Doctor and looked him in the eyes for any signs of deception.

“Interesting!” he said at last. “You really don’t know who I am, do you?”

“No I don’t.” the Doctor replied, he was starting to lose patience with whoever this idiot was.

“Could it be that you are an incarnation of the Doctor that precedes the one that I encountered on Telos?” the commander mused.

“Look, this is all fascinating stuff;” the Doctor riled. “Don’t you think this is all fascinating, Rose?”

“I’m riveted, Doctor!” she replied. “Better than a good book this!”

“There, you see? We’re both fascinated!” the Doctor smiled his most dangerous smile. “But I really would like to know the identity of the current lunatic I happen to be gracing the presence of sometime before my next regeneration if it’s all the same to you?”

“Doctor, what is regeneration?” Rose asked.

“Not now, Rose, can’t you see the nice lunatic is about to tell us who he is?” the Doctor cut her off rudely.

The commander didn’t seem fazed by being called a lunatic twice in quick succession. He just smiled.

“Very well, my name is Captain Jeremiah Norton, formerly of the Interplanetary Mining Corporation or IMC.” He told the Doctor.

“Let me guess.” The Doctor began. “Future me is in some way responsible for your becoming an ex-employee of the IMC, am I right?”

“That is correct.” Norton confirmed. “Your future self scuppered my plans to obtain exclusive rights for the IMC to mine the diamonds that can be found all over Telos.”

“Your plans must have been pretty heinous if I put a stop to them!” the Doctor guessed.

“No comment!” Norton smiled thinly. “However, now I have a unique opportunity it would seem!”

“Oh yes?” the Doctor stuck his neck out and smiled sardonically. “What would that be?”

“Now, Doctor, I have the opportunity to kill you before you even get the chance to ruin my career!” Norton sneered. “This couldn’t have turned out more perfectly if I had planned it!”

“I’m sorry, Norton, but that would be a very bad idea!” Captain John spoke up.

“Oh really?” Norton replied. “If I recall, I paid you to bring me the Doctor and his companion, Clover Daniels and you didn’t even do that very well! You’ve brought me the wrong Doctor and the wrong companion. Granted, this lovely lady is blonde, but that is the only thing that she has in common with Miss Daniels. I am not paying you as an advisor so you can keep your opinions to yourself, do you understand?”

“Wait a minute!” Okchov stepped forward. “Are you telling me that this female is not Clover?”

Norton looked at the Sontaran as if he had grown a second head.

“Of course she isn’t!” he snapped. “Can’t you see that? I thought you said you knew the woman? After all, part of your payment was that I hand Clover over to you so that you could finally claim your revenge on her!”

Okchov shrugged.

“All humans look alike to me!” he admitted.

“Hang about!” the Doctor interrupted. “Did you say Clover?”

“I did.” Norton replied. “Do you know her?”

“I may do.” The Doctor was non-committal. “Rings a bell, at least!”

“How can you know her if you haven’t met her yet?” Norton puzzled. “Unless you have met her and she only becomes your companion later. There are too many unanswered questions here!”

“So what do you want to do?” John wondered. “And may I reiterate that killing the Doctor would be a very bad idea! If he is a past incarnation then killing him now would have catastrophic consequences for the whole of the space/time continuum as we know it! Universe destroying consequences! I cannot stress enough how bad killing him right now would be, believe me!”

“Alright, alright, you’ve made your point!” Norton snarled irritably. “Take them away for now. I need time to think!”

Clover’s Doctor was standing in the exact spot, according to Jack, that the other Doctor and Rose had been standing in when they had been teleported away by Captain John. He had his sonic sword in his hand and he was running it over the area and taking readings.

“Your Doctor and your friend weren’t just teleported away.” He was saying. “There is some residual Artron energy which suggests time travel.”

“I told you.” Jack kept his patience, but only just. “John and I used to work for the Time Agency. He was using a vortex manipulator just like the one that I have.” He took out his own and showed it to the Doctor and Clover.

“I see.” The Doctor replied, shoving his sonic sword back into the pocket of his shorts. “Well, don’t worry. With the readings that I just took we should be able to get a fix on exactly where and when they went and track them down in my TARDIS.”

“What about my Doctor’s TARDIS?” Jack wondered.

“Once we’ve rescued your Doctor then Clover and I will bring you all back here to it, how does that sound?” the Doctor told him.

“Alright, I guess.” Jack nodded.

“I’m glad that’s settled.” The Doctor grinned. “Shall we pop off then?”

He opened the door to his TARDIS and stood aside to allow Jack and Clover to enter.

Once they were both in he followed them and closed the door behind him.

A few short moments later the TARDIS trumpeted its howling and grinding noise and slowly faded away.

 

The other Doctor and Rose had been locked in a cell in another part of the ship to which they had been escorted by Captain John and his Sontaran friend. The Doctor had been slightly disheartened when, before being taken away, Captain Norton had insisted that he hand over his sonic screwdriver.

Now he and Rose sat side by side on the cell’s one bunk contemplating their next course of action.

“Don’t worry, Rose!” the Doctor declared cheerfully. “Even without my screwdriver I’m sure I’ll be able to get us out of here somehow!”

“I don’t doubt it.” Rose replied with a sad smile. “That’s not what’s worrying me!”

The Doctor looked at Rose and saw the sadness in her eyes; she looked like she might burst into tears at any second.

“What’s wrong, Rose?” he asked her kindly.

“Oh nothing,” she answered him and her voice cracked as she said it, the first hot tears spilling over her cheeks. “Only at some point in your future you’re gonna replace me with some younger model called Clover!”

“No I’m not.” The Doctor insisted. “Who could ever replace you? You’re irreplaceable you are! There’s only one Rose Tyler!”

“But the life we lead,” Rose sniffled, accepting the Doctor’s offered tissue and dabbing the tears from her eyes. “What if something happens to me? What if I get exterminated by a Dalek or turned into a zombie or something else? You’re over nine hundred years old and could probably live for nine hundred more, at least, as far as I know! Even if a Dalek doesn’t get me or I don’t get zombified, one of these days you’re going to be travelling around with me and I’m gonna be running away from Autons with you on my Zimmer-frame or mobility scooter! I’m going to grow old and you’ll probably still look like you just stepped out of this season’s Jacamo catalogue! Then I’ll die of old age, you’ll get lonely again and hook up with some blonde bimbo called Clover! It’s inevitable, it’s already happened and there’s no escaping it!”

“It’s not going to happen!” the Doctor told her and he encircled his arms around her and pulled her into a hug. “Do you want me to tell you why?”

Rose leaned her head upon his chest and smiled through her tears.

“Go on then.” She sniffed.

“I do remember Clover.” He replied. “I met her during the Time War. She helped me to rescue a clone of me that had been engineered by the Time Lords to help them against the Daleks. They were going to take away his free will and use him as a weapon. I couldn’t allow that. Clover and I took him out of that facility and I left him with her on Earth. I gave him my memories and a TARDIS of his own and now it looks like he and Clover are out there travelling together doing what we do. He’s become something more than what the Time Lord’s had intended for him and he’s travelling through time and space in his own TARDIS, using my name and he’s fighting the good fight and righting wrongs just like I would do… just like I hoped that he would!”

“So this Doctor that Captain Norton is after isn’t a future you, but a clone of you? Your timelines don’t connect in anyway at all. If they killed you now the universe would be safe because it wouldn’t affect him at all?” Rose pulled away from the Doctor and looked at him as she spoke.

“That’s about the size of it.” The Doctor nodded. “But let’s keep Norton guessing for now. So long as he thinks that killing me is a bad idea we should be safe for the time being.”

“But even if you don’t end up with Clover in the future, everything I said before is still true.” Rose insisted. “I’m still going to grow old and die right before your eyes. How are you going to be able to live with that?”

“Rose, as a Time Lord this is something I’ve had to live with all my lives. You never get used to losing the ones you love.” The Doctor told her solemnly. He forced himself to smile. “But look at you. You’re only nineteen! You’ve got years ahead of you yet. Let’s enjoy the time that we have and not worry about the future. I may be a Time Lord, but even I don’t know what the future has in store for us. Literally anything could happen, so let’s just have fun finding out, eh?” He caressed her shoulders and planted a delicate kiss upon her forehead.

Rose smiled despite herself and the tears were still coming thick and fast, but she was feeling a little better. She accepted another tissue from the Doctor and dried her eyes and her face as best as she could.

“Who knows,” she chuckled. “Maybe we’ll find a future where Oil of Ulay have perfected their anti-aging cream and I’ll be able to travel with you looking young and pretty forever?”

“Maybe we will.” The Doctor agreed. “But whether you’re nineteen, ninety or a hundred and nineteen, you’re always gonna be fantastic to me!”

 

Captain John and Okchov were sat in the canteen of Norton’s ship. John was nursing a mug of coffee, Okchov being a Sontaran wasn’t drinking, but he kept his colleague company nonetheless.

“This job stinks!” Okchov was complaining. “We went to all that trouble to track down this Doctor and his female and now it turns out we’ve got the wrong one! I have a good mind to kill the female anyway, whether she’s the right one or not!”

“Do you just have a pathological hatred of all blonde human women?” John asked with a smirk as he sipped from his coffee.

“Why, yes, I believe I do!” Okchov admitted freely, “But I didn’t before that Clover female came along! Before I encountered her I was indifferent to what colour hair a human female had! I would kill a brunette just as surely as I would kill a redhead! It was all the same to me. Now whenever I see a blonde human female I just see red and a murderous desire overcomes me!”

“Seeing blonde makes you see red?” John chuckled. “You really oughta see a doctor about that one, me old mucker! This Clover bird really did a number on you didn’t she!”

Okchov held up the arm that had been replaced by a cannon.

“Six days I looked for her in those sewers, following the tracer that had been placed in the artefact that she had stolen from my then employer. She had fed the artefact, tracer and all, to one of the rat-roaches that infest the sewers of Icarus City on Demeter VI. When I caught up with it the blasted thing tore my arm off in the ensuing battle. It was one of the most glorious victories of my entire life, but it cost me my arm. Sometimes I don’t know whether to kill her or thank her!” he chuckled at that. “Of course I’m going to kill her when we finally do meet!”

John had heard this over a dozen times before, but he listened patiently until he was sure the Sontaran had finished.

“Look at the sweet arm cannon you got out of it as compensation, eh?” he said. “If you were back on Sontar you’d be the envy of all the other warriors with that old thing!”

Okchov gazed at his cannon arm with admiration.

“You’re not wrong there!” he conceded.

“I’m worried about old Norton.” John confided. “He just might be crazy enough to kill the Doctor and muck up the space/time continuum royally.”

“What do you want to do about it?” Okchov asked.

John didn’t answer.

 

In the cargo hold of Norton’s ship a howling and grinding noise split the air as the clone Doctor’s TARDIS announced its arrival. Moments after it had achieved solidification the door opened and the Doctor, Clover and Jack all stepped out.

During their short flight the Doctor had taken the time to change out of his Ping-Pong gear and into his usual ensemble – black trousers, blue shirt and tie and long grey cashmere coat. Clover had also morphed her nano-fabric into something more practical; a black version of her usually red catsuit.

“It’s a shame!” Jack had smirked after the Doctor’s change. “I was kind of hoping that you’d keep the shorts! I’ve never seen my Doctor wear anything like that!”

The Doctor pulled the door of his TARDIS closed behind him.

“Right, now that we’re here we need to find me and get me out of here!” he declared.

“Well that’s easy!” Clover grinned with a mischievous twinkle; she grabbed his hand. “Found you! Come on, off we go!”

“Ha ha!” the Doctor fixed her with a thin smile and a raised sardonic eyebrow.

Jack crossed to a computer terminal fixed into a nearby bulkhead. “If I can access the schematics of the ship perhaps I can figure out where the holding cells are.” He suggested.

“Sounds like a plan!” the Doctor approved. “But I think our presence might have been detected…” He nodded towards a CCTV camera gazing down at them from the ceiling. “So you’d best be quick about it!”

 

In the control room the image of the Doctor, Clover and Jack being captured by the camera had been put up onto the main screen. Norton stood right up in front of the screen, almost with his face pressed up against it.

“He’s here!” he hissed with manic exaltation. “That’s him! He has come to us!”

Norton turned to one of his lackeys.

“Get a security team to cargo hold 11 at once and apprehend the Doctor and the girl!” he instructed. “I want them alive, but you do not have to extend the same courtesy to their male friend.”

“Yes, sir!” the lackey acknowledged and left to carry out his orders.

Norton activated a panel on the communications grid next to him.

“Captain John, come in, please!”

There was no response.

Norton called again, but again there was no answer.

“Hmm, what are you up to, Hart?” the captain wondered out loud.

 

When the Doctor, Clover and Jack tried to exit cargo hold 11 they found that the door had been remotely sealed to keep them in. The Doctor tried to unlock it with his sonic sword, but to no avail.

“They must have locked it with a deadlock seal!” he complained. “When I designed the sonic sword I really should have come up with an upgrade to counter that issue!”

“Yes you really should have!” Clover griped.

“Sonic sword, huh?” Jack was impressed. “At least that’s an improvement on the old screwdriver!”

The Doctor flashed him a smile. “I know, right?”

“Focus, guys!” Clover steered them back to their current dilemma. “What are we going to do now?”

“Don’t worry.” Jack assured her. “I’ll get us out of here!”

He pulled out a blaster and shot out the locking mechanism. The door immediately slid open.

“You’ve got a blaster?” Clover crowed enviously. “That’s not fair! The Doctor would never let me carry a blaster!”

“You’ve never asked!” the Doctor retorted defensively.

Jack smirked as he put away his weapon.

“Shall we go, guys?” he suggested.

They stepped out into the corridor.

“Now do you remember which way to the holding cells?” the Doctor asked.

“Does a Jageroth only have one eye?” Jack replied. “That’s a yes by the way!” he added off Clover’s look of puzzlement.

He led them off down the left hand corridor.

“Why do I get the impression that you really have a thing for one-eyed monsters?” Clover teased Jack as they crept along the metal walkway.

“And you don’t?” the Doctor smirked back at her.

“Oh my God!” Jack sniggered. “You two guys are pure filth! You aren’t…” he winked at them suggestively and wiggled his eyebrows. “Are you?”

The Doctor and Clover looked at each other and blushed.

“A gentleman doesn’t…” the Doctor began.

“Is it that obvious?” Clover finished for him.

“You dirty dogs!” Jack laughed.

They were just feet away from another door at the end of the corridor when said door slid open and four men in red and grey uniforms, all carrying blasters, came through.

On seeing the Doctor, Clover and Jack the first man raised his blaster, but before he could fire one of his colleagues batted the gun aside.

“Careful!” the man hissed. “You could hit the Doctor or the girl and the Captain wants them alive, remember?”

Jack pulled out his blaster and pointed at them.

“I guess that leaves you guys kinda stuck, huh?” he grinned.

The first man glared at his cautious colleague as he put his gun down on the ground.

His fellow security men followed his example.

Clover stepped forward and picked up one of the blasters.

“Mine I think!” she proclaimed happily.

The Doctor stood between Jack and Clover and addressed the disarmed men.

“Right, now that my two friends are happily armed, perhaps you’d like to take us to where you’re holding the other me?” he said.

The four men reluctantly turned and led the Doctor and his friends off down the corridor.

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” the Doctor continued amiably. “But those are IMC uniforms aren’t they?”

“What of it?” the lead man grouched.

“I think I know who we’re up against and why, Clover.” The Doctor realised.

“It’s not that meathead of a captain that we encountered on Telos, is it?” Clover said.

“Got it in one!” the Doctor replied.

“So why would this guy have beef with you and Clover?” Jack wondered.

“Their captain tried to secure exclusive rights for his company to be allowed to mine Telos’s diamonds. He disguised some of his men as Cybermen and staged a massacre during a festival that was being held in my honour in the Cryons’ citadel. The idea was that he and his men would save the day and get rid of the Cybermen with their ‘secret weapon’, hoping that the Cryons would be grateful enough to grant them exclusive mining rights. It probably would have worked too if they hadn’t tried to kill me the night before the massacre.” The Doctor explained.

“Why did that ruin their plan?” Jack asked.

“I saved the Doctor and the guy dressed as a Cyberman was killed in the fight.” Clover told him. “That was how we discovered that something dodgy was going down. We made sure that everyone attending the festival the following day was kitted out with a personal force field so that they wouldn’t be killed, but we instructed them to act like they were dead if someone shot at them. The fake Cyberman massacre went ahead as planned, but we were the ones conning them and we Scooby Doo unmasked the lot of them and sent them packing!”

“No wonder this guy is pissed!” Jack chuckled.

“So what’s your captain got in store for us, eh?” the Doctor asked their prisoners.

“Stick around and you’ll find out soon enough!” the same man as before replied menacingly.

“You’re a right bundle of laughs, aren’t you!” the Doctor chided.

“Right, I think this is it!” Jack announced as they came to a stop in front of a set of double doors on the left.

The doors whooshed open and they found Captain John and Okchov already there with the other Doctor and Rose, who had been let out of their cell.

“What’s going on here?” Jack wondered.

“I could ask you the same thing!” John replied.

Meanwhile Okchov had clocked Clover’s presence.

“That’s her, I’m sure of it!” he exclaimed in fevered excitement and he raised his arm cannon and pointed it right at her.

Jack had his blaster pointed at John while Clover pointed hers back at the Sontaran.

“Okchov!” Clover beamed. “Fancy seeing you here! I see that you escaped the rat-roaches then?”

“At the cost of my arm!” Okchov rasped.

“Yeah, but look at the sweet cannon that you got to replace it!” Clover replied with unfeigned admiration.

“I know, right!” the Sontaran couldn’t resist breaking out into a smug, self-satisfied grin.

“Look, Okchov.” Clover began, her gun barrel unwavering. “I’m sorry about what happened back on Demeter. It was never personal; just your average everyday case of kill or be killed, me or you. All’s fair in love and war, am I right?”

“You did observe the rules of conflict rather admirably.” Okchov conceded. “You would make a good Sontaran if you were not a repulsive human female!”

Clover took that as the compliment that it was meant to be.

“Thanks.” She beamed. “So what do you say that we let bygones be bygones, put the past behind us and become allies instead of enemies, huh?”

The Sontaran stood there for a moment, his arm cannon still pointed at Clover, as he ruminated over his hated enemy’s proposition.

“Well you see I’ve been looking forward to killing you for such a long time!” he told her, his tone making it sound like they were negotiating a business deal.

“I know!” Clover replied with heartfelt sympathy. “And I can appreciate that! I really can, but think about all the IMC lackeys you’ll get to kill if you team up with us!”

“Yeah, you’ve got a point there!” the Sontaran’s head bobbed from side to side as he allowed himself to be persuaded by Clover’s argument. “Alright, I’m in!” He lowered the arm cannon to his side… and then raised it again, this time pointing it at the four IMC guards. “Can I start with these ones?”

The Doctor (Clover’s Doctor), who had been waiting patiently in the side lines while Clover conducted her business with the Sontaran, stepped between the large cannon’s barrel and the four cowering IMC men.

“Erm, not these ones. These ones are technically our prisoners and seeing as we’ve got those holding cells standing so conveniently nearby…”

Okchov lowered his cannon reluctantly. “Alright, alright! I get it!” he replied. “But I’d better be able to kill something soon!”

With that little rant over the Sontaran helped Clover to herd the four men into the cell that the Doctor and Rose had recently vacated.

“So you had a change of heart, huh?” Jack was saying to John.

“You might say that.” John replied. “Captain Norton was planning to kill the Doctor which might have had terrible consequences for the universe as we know it. I had to look at the bigger picture, know what I’m saying?”

“Hang on a second!” Clover’s Doctor interjected. “But how would killing the Doctor have been bad for the universe exactly?”

Rose’s Doctor smiled. “Captain Norton was under the impression that I was an earlier incarnation of you, seeing as how I didn’t recognise him, so he thought that by killing me you, therefore, would not exist in the future to thwart his plans on Telos.”

“I see!” Clover’s Doctor replied. He took a step towards Rose’s Doctor and studied his face closely. “Your face doesn’t correspond with any of the ones that I know from the memories that you gave me. Are you a regeneration from after the Time War?”  

“Immediately after.” Rose’s Doctor nodded. “The ghosts of the Time War are still far too fresh for me, I’m afraid.”

“Wait, so this man is you?” Rose asked her Doctor.

“He’s a clone of me implanted with some of my memories, but aside from that… yeah… he’s me!” the Doctor grinned.

“You’re gonna have to explain all about this clone thing later!” Rose insisted.

“Happy to!” her Doctor replied. “But right now we need to get out of here.”

“We could just leave.” Jack suggested. “We have the clone Doctor’s TARDIS.”

“Norton would just come after me again.” Clover’s Doctor shook his head. “I think we should go and persuade him that that would be a very bad idea, don’t you?”

“Okchov and I took out the security cameras in here when we arrived, but Norton is bound to have sent a team of guards here. They’re probably waiting outside for us as we speak. We’re gonna have to fight our way to the control room.” John told them.

“Not necessarily.” Rose’s Doctor insisted. “Captain John, do you still have your vortex manipulator and Jack, do you have yours?”

Both ex-Time Agents handed over their vortex manipulators.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and made a few adjustments on both of the devices.

Once he had finished he handed back the manipulators to their respective owners.

“Right, everyone bunch together really tightly as if we were in the universe’s tightest group hug!” Rose’s Doctor instructed.

Everyone did as they were told, Clover taking care to squeeze next to her Doctor and Rose next to hers, both Captains taking the opportunity to cop a feel from each other in the process too; everyone except Okchov looked entirely cosy within the tight ball that they had squeezed themselves into.

“Now, Captains!” Rose’s Doctor announced.

Jack and John activated their vortex manipulators and everyone within the cosy bundle was bathed in a blue light before, all at once, they vanished.

 

Only for them to reappear again in the centre of Norton’s control room. Everyone in the bundle who had a weapon came out pointing it at someone in the control room. At the same time every IMC man in the control room was pointing their weapon at the gathering of individuals that had just appeared before them.

Norton got up from his command chair and strode into the circle of weapons to a space where he could talk face to face with Clover’s Doctor.

“Ah, Doctor!” he sneered. “So glad that you could finally join us. You’ve arrived just in time for our rendezvous with my new allies… would you like to meet them?”

“New allies?” the Doctor replied with a look of puzzlement.

One of the few IMC personnel who wasn’t pointing a weapon looked up from his console.

“Captain, our allies are hailing us!” he declared.

“Put them on the view screen!” Norton commanded.

The large screen at the head of the command room came on and was filled by the blank silver features of a very familiar foe indeed. Round soulless eyes gazed dispassionately from the screen.

“We have arrived!” the creature’s electronic voice twanged.

“Cybermen!” both Doctor’s chorused in unison.

Clover couldn’t help herself. She just had to say it.

“Jinx!” she proclaimed with a sardonic smile.

Clover’s Doctor rounded on Norton in frustrated desperation.

“What on Earth do you think you’re playing at, Norton?” he demanded. “You can’t work with the Cybermen! You can’t trust them!”

“Oh, but I believe that I can, Doctor!” Norton disagreed, his smug smile never wavering. “You see we have come to a mutually beneficial agreement. I have something, or rather someone, that they want and they have the power that I need!”

“And what exactly are the Cybermen going to give you in exchange for our lives?” Rose’s Doctor asked. “I’m guessing it is me and my other self that you’re planning on handing over to them, right?”

“Correct.” Norton confirmed. “I had only planned on giving them one Doctor, the Doctor who humiliated me on Telos, but now I find myself able to give them two! And in return for two Doctors the Cybermen are going to help me to take an entire planet! Quite a bargain, don’t you think?”

“And I’m guessing that this planet is Telos, right?” Clover’s Doctor said quietly.

“Yes, that’s right.” Norton answered. “You see, Doctor, those diamonds will be mine after all and now I won’t even have to share them with the IMC!”

The captain turned back to face the Cyberman on the view screen.

“If you scan our ship you will detect the life signs of not just one, but two Time Lords.” Norton addressed the blank impassive face that stared out at them. “Both of them are the Doctor.”

“We have scanned your ship already and have monitored your conversation with the Doctors.” The Cyberman intoned. “You have done well.”

“We are ready to transport the Doctors over to your ship as soon as you like.” Norton assured it.

“That will not be necessary.” The Cyberman informed him.

“Oh?” Norton looked puzzled and a little uncertain. “Why not?”

“The Doctors will perish when we destroy your ship.” The Cyberman answered.

“Destroy my ship?” Norton balked incredulously. “But you can’t! We had an arrangement!”

“It is in-valid.” The Cyberman told him. “There is no value in using our resources in an attack on Telos.”

“What about revenge?” Norton persisted desperately. “The Cryons destroyed your forces on Telos!”

“Revenge is illogical.” The Cyberman replied.

“But surely in destroying my ship are you not exacting revenge upon the Doctor for all of the defeats that he has given you?” Norton argued.

“That is not revenge. It is survival. We are merely removing a threat to the Cyber-race.” The Cyberman countered dispassionately. “You will all be destroyed.”

With those words the blank metallic features disappeared from the view screen.

“I think he hung up on you!” Clover snarked with a grin.

“What was that you were saying about being able to trust the Cybermen, eh, Norton?” Clover’s Doctor chided.

“I’ll deal with you later!” Norton snarled. “First we need to do something about the Cybermen!”

“I’d like to do something about that!” Okchov declared feverishly, his squat frame quivering with excitement.

“The Cyberman ship is powering up its weapon systems!” an IMC man announced urgently.

“Raise the shields and take evasive action!” Norton commanded.

“What did you have in mind, Okchov?” John was saying to his Sontaran friend.

“Do you think you can get us over onto the Cybermen’s ship with your vortex manipulator?” Okchov asked excitedly.

“I think so, why?” John asked.

“I haven’t had a chance to kill anything yet!” the Sontaran answered.

John took out his vortex manipulator and stood next to Okchov. The Time Agent looked at Jack.

“See you around, Jack!” he smirked.

“Try not to get killed!” Jack shot back at him.

And then in a flash of blue energy John and Okchov disappeared.

An urgent cry from one of the IMC personnel snapped everyone back into the moment.

“The Cybermen have fired their torpedo tubes!”

“Everyone except the Doctors brace for impact!” Norton barked.

The whole ship shook as the torpedoes struck the shields and everyone staggered. A few people fell, but no one was seriously hurt, not even the Doctors, much to Norton’s chagrin.

“The shields are down, captain!” the IMC man reported. “The next hit will shatter us like an egg!”

“Evasive action!” Norton commanded. “Try and get us out of their torpedo range!”

“We’re not going to be fast enough, captain!” the helmsman protested.

Clover looked at her Doctor, frustrated by his apparent inaction.

“Can’t you do anything, Doctor?” she asked.

Rose was equally flummoxed by her Doctor’s nonchalant reaction to the clear and present danger.

“One of you must be able to do something!” she insisted.

Neither Doctor responded.

“The Cybermen are preparing to fire again!” the IMC man shouted.

Everyone braced for impact again without needing to be told this time. Not that it would do them any good; nearly everyone in that control room anticipated that this next shot would be the one that confined them all to oblivion.

Rose looked at her Doctor with despair; un-spilt tears forming in her eyes.

Both Doctors just stood there smiling as if they were privy to some joke that no one else had been told.

Clover closed her eyes.

The ship shook once more and Clover steadied herself by clutching the console nearest to where she was standing. Once the trembling of the ship had subsided Clover realised that she was still alive and very slowly opened her eyes.

Her first instinct was to look at the view screen which had previously been showing the colossal metallic hulk of the Cybermen’s warship. Now all that showed on the screen was empty space. At least it was empty until a charred and jagged fragment of debris drifted silently passed, followed moments later by the twisted and broken remains of a Cyberman.

“What happened?” Clover wondered out loud.

“Captain John and your friend, Okchov I would wager!” her Doctor replied with a grin of satisfaction.

“My guess is that they materialised somewhere in or near the Cybermen’s engine room and from there were able to blow up the Cybermen from the inside.” Rose’s Doctor added.

“That’s what I would have done.” Jack nodded.

“So John and Okchov are dead?” Rose wondered.

“I doubt it!” Jack smirked. “They probably vortexed out of there before the ship went up.”

“At least he was good for something!” Norton sneered as he tried to regain his composure after the previous moments of terror. He turned his attention back to Clover’s Doctor. “We still have the unresolved matter of your demise, Doctor!”

Every IMC that had been pointing a gun at them before was all of a sudden doing it again. Clover and Jack raised their blasters too, but they were vastly outgunned.

“I don’t think anyone here is going to kill me!” Clover’s Doctor proclaimed confidently.

“Oh?” Norton snarled. “And why not?”

“Out of all of us here, I’m not the one that made a bargain with the Cybermen that very nearly got us all blown to kingdom come!” the Doctor declared. He looked at each man that was pointing a gun at him with a knowing and confident smile. “Do you really want to be serving under a mad man, blinded by revenge, who makes decisions like that? Your captain is an intergalactic Captain Ahab and I’m his White Whale. His obsession with me nearly got you all killed. Just think about that for a minute won’t you. Oh you could shoot me dead right now and that would be the end of it I’m sure… until the next mad and crazy scheme that he comes up with. Next time he might try teaming up with the Daleks. Where will it end, eh? Do you think he’s going to give up on those diamonds? Are those diamonds worth all of your lives? You can’t enjoy being rich if you’re dead!”

“Nice try, Doctor!” Norton chided. “Kill him now!”

There was a long pregnant pause of hesitation and indecision. Then every single IMC weapon turned and pointed at Norton.

The former IMC captain was outraged.

“This is mutiny!” he bellowed furiously.

The helmsman stepped up to him and relieved him of his own weapon.

“Yes it is.” The young man answered. “But there’s not a lot you can do about it is there?” He looked at two security men flanking their former commander. “Take him and put him in one of the holding cells. I believe there’s still a sizeable bounty on his head for his attempt to con the Cryons. Should be enough to cover our wages for a month at least and then maybe we can look into becoming bounty hunters full time, eh lads?”

There was a cheer and murmur of agreement from the IMC crew.

Norton was led away by the two guards, ranting and foaming at the mouth with every step.

The helmsman turned to the Doctors and their respective companions.

“You, of course, are all free to go now.” He told them.

“Music to my ears!” Clover’s Doctor rubbed his hands together gleefully. “Come along then, I suppose you’ll be wanting a lift back to your TARDIS?” he said to his leather jacketed counterpart.

“That’s no problem!” Jack insisted. “I can just zap us back with my vortex manipulator!”

“Thanks, Jack, but no thanks!” Rose’s Doctor replied. “Last time I saw his TARDIS it was still an undeveloped embryo! I wanna see what he’s done with the old girl!”

And with that they took their leave of the IMC control room.

 

Captain John and Okchov materialised again and found themselves surrounded by bluish-green trees.

“That was a close call!” John remarked, wiping his sleeve against his brow with exaggerated relief.

Okchov was still coming down from the high of getting to blast away at so many Cybermen in such a short space of time. He looked around at their surroundings as the bloodlust subsided.

“Where have you landed us this time, Hart?” the Sontaran wondered.

Suddenly the ground and all of the trees around them began to shake violently and the air was split by an ear shattering roar.

John and Okchov looked at each other and smiled.

 

Rose’s Doctor had gushed like an over excited school boy in a toy shop at the sight of the brilliant white control room of Clover’s Doctor’s TARDIS and the roundels on the walls.

“I see you went for the classic wallpaper!” he had enthused.

“It’s the one that I have the fondest memories of!” Clover’s Doctor had replied. “But one of these days I’m going to give it an overhaul and put my own stamp on it!”

“That’s not the only thing that he’s put his own stamp on!” Jack had added. “He’s got a sonic sword… not a screwdriver!”

“Really?” Rose’s Doctor had answered with raised eyebrows. “What made you decide on that?” And with those words he dragged Clover’s Doctor aside for more gossip.

Meanwhile, Rose and Clover were having a gossip of their own in another corner of the TARDIS control room.

“So are you and your Doctor sleeping together?” Clover had asked Rose boldly.

Rose had blushed furiously at this question.

“No of course not!” she had replied. “Me and the Doctor are just friends!”

“Are you sure?” Clover teased. “I’ve seen the way you look at him!”

“What about you and your Doctor?” Rose countered evasively.

“Oh we’re at it every spare chance we can get!” Clover winked mischievously.

Rose laughed, at the same time realising that Clover was being serious.

“Shut up!” she exclaimed. “You and your Doctor?”

“Like rabbits.” Clover assured her with a lascivious grin.

“You dirty cow!” Rose giggled with a hint of good natured envy.

Over on the other side of the control room the conversation between the two Doctors had took on a more sombre note.

“I’m glad that I have had this chance to see you again.” Rose’s Doctor was saying. “It’s nice to know that I’m not alone out there and that there is someone else roaming the universe fighting the good fight.”

“I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to make my own life out there.” Clover’s Doctor replied. “You’ve given me so much that I feel that the least I can do is travel the universe in your name, being the best Doctor that I can be!”

“Well if what I’ve seen of you today is anything to go by I know that my name is in good hands and that whatever you may go on to do in the future I’m sure it’s going to be fantastic!”

 

**The End**


End file.
